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Staff Writer

Fraction and Allred go all metafictional on our asses with this issue, as both they and Tom Brevoort guest-star in the comic! There’s a long history of this sort of thing happening with the Fantastic Four, going all the way back to Stan and Jack, and it was a lot of fun seeing Fraction poke fun at himself and his colleagues, some of it may have been a little bit too ‘inside baseball’ like jokes about Brevoort’s Formspring, but hey, we got to see Mike Allred show up with a Madman shirt on and say ‘ginchy’, you have to dig it.

The plot here was a lot of fun, as the FF and the FF creative team head down into the microverse as a tour of a new educational scheme Ant-Man has come up with. But of course, there are problems, as Artie and Leech bring along a tiger they stole from the zoo. It’s all very silly, especially with the meta stuff, but it’s fun, and it allows Allred to draw some seriously cool psychedelic backgrounds, which is, of course, ginchy.

As always, there’s a parallel storyline running with the kids, and this one is a lot more serious than most. Old Man Johnny Storm seems to be on to the fact that Alex Power is a spy for Doctor Doom, so Doom tells Alex to kill him, but of course, someone who was in freaking Power Pack has no idea how to kill someone, so he asks the other kids, do they know anyone who’s killed? Ahura has an answer, his Uncle, Maximus The Mad. Before moving onto this stuff, I need to mention how awesome Bentley was on that page where the FF kids were just standing on the rooftops, his movements were hilarious. I love that kid, now that Damian Wayne is dead, he fills the psychotic child hero hole in my heart.

The Maximus scenes here were interesting, not least because while he’s in prison here, over in Hickman’s Avengers books, he’s perfectly free and helping Black Bolt build fucked-up shit. I wonder what the story order is here? Is Maximus in prison because of events in Avengers and Infinity? Or is this the story that shows why he’s free in those books? Hmmm… We all know that the Inhumans are going to play a big role in the Marvel Universe soon, so any scene with them is very intriguing. Plus, I’ve always found Maximus to be an awesome character, you’ve got to love somebody who self-defines as ‘Mad’.

So yeah, once again, this was a really fun instalment of FF, you never know what crazy stuff Fraction and Allred are going to do, and putting themselves into the story is just another great example. This is a series with a unique tone, and it’s great to see it’s not afraid to make fun of itself and it’s creators. If you’re one of those people who don’t like metafictional stuff like this, then you probably won’t have enjoyed this issue, and yeah, it maybe was a bit self-indulgent, but it was FUN, and that’s what the FF is all about, yes, there’s ‘complex family interdynamics’ and ‘capers’ all mixed into together, but most of all, it’s a fun time, with great art.

Staff Writer

Fraction and Allred go all metafictional on our asses with this issue, as both they and Tom Brevoort guest-star in the comic! There’s a long history of this sort of thing happening with the Fantastic Four, going all the way back to Stan and Jack, and it was a lot of fun seeing Fraction poke fun at himself and his colleagues, some of it may have been a little bit too ‘inside baseball’ like jokes about Brevoort’s Formspring, but hey, we got to see Mike Allred show up with a Madman shirt on and say ‘ginchy’, you have to dig it.

The plot here was a lot of fun, as the FF and the FF creative team head down into the microverse as a tour of a new educational scheme Ant-Man has come up with. But of course, there are problems, as Artie and Leech bring along a tiger they stole from the zoo. It’s all very silly, especially with the meta stuff, but it’s fun, and it allows Allred to draw some seriously cool psychedelic backgrounds, which is, of course, ginchy.

As always, there’s a parallel storyline running with the kids, and this one is a lot more serious than most. Old Man Johnny Storm seems to be on to the fact that Alex Power is a spy for Doctor Doom, so Doom tells Alex to kill him, but of course, someone who was in freaking Power Pack has no idea how to kill someone, so he asks the other kids, do they know anyone who’s killed? Ahura has an answer, his Uncle, Maximus The Mad. Before moving onto this stuff, I need to mention how awesome Bentley was on that page where the FF kids were just standing on the rooftops, his movements were hilarious. I love that kid, now that Damian Wayne is dead, he fills the psychotic child hero hole in my heart.

The Maximus scenes here were interesting, not least because while he’s in prison here, over in Hickman’s Avengers books, he’s perfectly free and helping Black Bolt build fucked-up shit. I wonder what the story order is here? Is Maximus in prison because of events in Avengers and Infinity? Or is this the story that shows why he’s free in those books? Hmmm… We all know that the Inhumans are going to play a big role in the Marvel Universe soon, so any scene with them is very intriguing. Plus, I’ve always found Maximus to be an awesome character, you’ve got to love somebody who self-defines as ‘Mad’.

So yeah, once again, this was a really fun instalment of FF, you never know what crazy stuff Fraction and Allred are going to do, and putting themselves into the story is just another great example. This is a series with a unique tone, and it’s great to see it’s not afraid to make fun of itself and it’s creators. If you’re one of those people who don’t like metafictional stuff like this, then you probably won’t have enjoyed this issue, and yeah, it maybe was a bit self-indulgent, but it was FUN, and that’s what the FF is all about, yes, there’s ‘complex family interdynamics’ and ‘capers’ all mixed into together, but most of all, it’s a fun time, with great art.

Rain Partier

yeah, all the Maximus stuff took me out of the story. unless I'm missing something, he's been free and actually acting as part of the Royal Family, aiding and helping his bro and cousins, since at least the SI: Inhumans mini. so why he was locked up here, I have no clue.

Rain Partier

yeah, all the Maximus stuff took me out of the story. unless I'm missing something, he's been free and actually acting as part of the Royal Family, aiding and helping his bro and cousins, since at least the SI: Inhumans mini. so why he was locked up here, I have no clue.

Fagorstorm

chap22 wrote:yeah, all the Maximus stuff took me out of the story. unless I'm missing something, he's been free and actually acting as part of the Royal Family, aiding and helping his bro and cousins, since at least the SI: Inhumans mini. so why he was locked up here, I have no clue.

Fagorstorm

chap22 wrote:yeah, all the Maximus stuff took me out of the story. unless I'm missing something, he's been free and actually acting as part of the Royal Family, aiding and helping his bro and cousins, since at least the SI: Inhumans mini. so why he was locked up here, I have no clue.

Motherfucker from Hell

I was a big fan of this issue! I feel lucky as hell that I get to enjoy a (near-)monthly Allred book set in the Marvel Universe; last time I could do that was the equally-great X-Statix.

I just hope Fraction doesn't start using this book as his means of ramping up the presence of The Inhumans in the lead-up to the Infinity fall-out. I don't give a shit about The Inhumans and don't want the book to become about them

Motherfucker from Hell

I was a big fan of this issue! I feel lucky as hell that I get to enjoy a (near-)monthly Allred book set in the Marvel Universe; last time I could do that was the equally-great X-Statix.

I just hope Fraction doesn't start using this book as his means of ramping up the presence of The Inhumans in the lead-up to the Infinity fall-out. I don't give a shit about The Inhumans and don't want the book to become about them

Rain Partier

TimDrake'sDumbWings wrote:I was a big fan of this issue! I feel lucky as hell that I get to enjoy a (near-)monthly Allred book set in the Marvel Universe; last time I could do that was the equally-great X-Statix.

I just hope Fraction doesn't start using this book as his means of ramping up the presence of The Inhumans in the lead-up to the Infinity fall-out. I don't give a shit about The Inhumans and don't want the book to become about them

Rain Partier

TimDrake'sDumbWings wrote:I was a big fan of this issue! I feel lucky as hell that I get to enjoy a (near-)monthly Allred book set in the Marvel Universe; last time I could do that was the equally-great X-Statix.

I just hope Fraction doesn't start using this book as his means of ramping up the presence of The Inhumans in the lead-up to the Infinity fall-out. I don't give a shit about The Inhumans and don't want the book to become about them

Rain Partier

TimDrake'sDumbWings wrote:NO, CHAP! If our professional relationship could survive my Nocenti-Daredevil-hating and Bendis-Daredevil-loving, it can survive this. May I suggest mediation?

But seriously, the fact that a character's name was made "Blackagar Boltagon" to justify his superhero name always struck me as emblematic of the general hokeyness I perceived in the Inhumans concept.

I like Kirby's New Gods quite a bit; does that mean Kirby's Inhumans might be my access point?

Sure, that works. The classic Lee/Kirby FF stuff that introduces them. I'll also tell you the Jenkins/Lee MK mini is tremendously fantastic. The SI: Inhumans mini. War of Kings from DnA/Marvel Cosmic. The list goes on.

Rain Partier

TimDrake'sDumbWings wrote:NO, CHAP! If our professional relationship could survive my Nocenti-Daredevil-hating and Bendis-Daredevil-loving, it can survive this. May I suggest mediation?

But seriously, the fact that a character's name was made "Blackagar Boltagon" to justify his superhero name always struck me as emblematic of the general hokeyness I perceived in the Inhumans concept.

I like Kirby's New Gods quite a bit; does that mean Kirby's Inhumans might be my access point?

Sure, that works. The classic Lee/Kirby FF stuff that introduces them. I'll also tell you the Jenkins/Lee MK mini is tremendously fantastic. The SI: Inhumans mini. War of Kings from DnA/Marvel Cosmic. The list goes on.

Motherfucker from Hell

chap22 wrote:Sure, that works. The classic Lee/Kirby FF stuff that introduces them. I'll also tell you the Jenkins/Lee MK mini is tremendously fantastic. The SZi: Inhumans mini. War of Kings from DnA/Marvel Cosmic. The list goes on.

It truly boggles my mind that someone could not like the Inhumans.

My only exposure to the Inhumans was through the 90s FF cartoon and parts of Byrne's FF run. I dunno, it just seemed like another take on the tired "Superhero freaks find family WITH EACH OTHER" concept. Like I said, I think if I approach this as a precursor to Kirby's New Gods, I can get into Lee/Kirby Inhumans.

Motherfucker from Hell

chap22 wrote:Sure, that works. The classic Lee/Kirby FF stuff that introduces them. I'll also tell you the Jenkins/Lee MK mini is tremendously fantastic. The SZi: Inhumans mini. War of Kings from DnA/Marvel Cosmic. The list goes on.

It truly boggles my mind that someone could not like the Inhumans.

My only exposure to the Inhumans was through the 90s FF cartoon and parts of Byrne's FF run. I dunno, it just seemed like another take on the tired "Superhero freaks find family WITH EACH OTHER" concept. Like I said, I think if I approach this as a precursor to Kirby's New Gods, I can get into Lee/Kirby Inhumans.

Rain Partier

TimDrake'sDumbWings wrote:My only exposure to the Inhumans was through the 90s FF cartoon and parts of Byrne's FF run. I dunno, it just seemed like another take on the tired "Superhero freaks find family WITH EACH OTHER" concept. Like I said, I think if I approach this as a precursor to Kirby's New Gods, I can get into Lee/Kirby Inhumans.

But they don't find family, they actually ARE family. The Royal Family of the Inhumans...brothers, cousins, sisters, wives, etc. they mix the best of the internal bickering of the FF with the regal concerns of Namor plus cool powers (seriously...Black Bolt is awesome) and way-out settings like Attilan and the blue area of the moon. Love the Inhumans.

Rain Partier

TimDrake'sDumbWings wrote:My only exposure to the Inhumans was through the 90s FF cartoon and parts of Byrne's FF run. I dunno, it just seemed like another take on the tired "Superhero freaks find family WITH EACH OTHER" concept. Like I said, I think if I approach this as a precursor to Kirby's New Gods, I can get into Lee/Kirby Inhumans.

But they don't find family, they actually ARE family. The Royal Family of the Inhumans...brothers, cousins, sisters, wives, etc. they mix the best of the internal bickering of the FF with the regal concerns of Namor plus cool powers (seriously...Black Bolt is awesome) and way-out settings like Attilan and the blue area of the moon. Love the Inhumans.